Personnel Structure in Continuing Education

wb.Fakten

Commented Data on Personnel in Continuing Education

Activities and employments of teachers in continuing education (2004)

Table 1: Activities and employment of teachers in the field of continuing education in 2004 in percentage (Source: WSF-Studie 2005. Calculated values bases on n=1,054 providers of continuing education)

According to the (calculated) survey results conducted by Economic and Social Research (WSF Wirtschaft und Sozialforschung), around 1.35 million activities and employments of people involved in teaching, planning or counselling were registered (WSF 2005, p. 32): 996,000 (74%) freelancers or self-employed, 185,000 (14%) employees subject to social insurance contributions and 130,000 (10%) volunteers (see table 1). The other 39,000 (3%) include e.g. civil servants and temporary employees.

The study only includes institutions which are not largely recreational and are not involved in primary/secondary education or vocational training; therefore continuing education includes retraining, extra-company vocational company, vocational preparation, professional integration measures, counselling/coaching for business start-ups as well as special measures for the socially disadvantaged.

Number of educational full time employees with permanent and temporary contracts (HPM) at adult education centres (1991-2009)

Overall since 2004, unlimited employment of full-time teachers has been declining while limited employment has increased.

Since 1991, the number of full-time teachers at adult education centres has decreased with slight interruptions 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007 by one third to 1,200 employees (see table 2). The decline targets mainly temporary educational employees. Over time, the number of employees has decreased by 50 percent to 681 in 2009. The number of unlimited positions for full-time teachers has also decreased though not to the same extent: Between 1991 and 2009 the number of employees has decreased by 11 percent to 475.

The decline of limited and unlimited employment is caused by the deregulation in the job markets and flexible forms of employment as well as the discontinuation and reduction of government grants.

Course instructors at adult education centres (1991 – 2009)

The number of course instructors has increased (see table 3), whereas the total number of full-time educational employees (see table 2: Number of educational full-time employees with permanent and temporary contracts at adult education centres 1991-2009) has decreased since 1991.

Between 1991 and 2009, the number of course instructors increased annually with exceptions in 2005, 2006 and 2007; about 26,000 (+16%) in 20 years. 193,000 volunteers were active in 2009. A peak level was reached in 2004: 200,000 volunteers worked as course instructors at adult education centres. Full-time employees, mainly in teaching positions, were replaced by (self-employed) course instructors.

Current wages for teachers (2009/2010)

Fee records on mediafon, a counselling service for self-employed workers run by the trade union ver.di, were evaluated by the Network of Continuing Education – a network for employees in continuing education organized by the department of education, science and research in ver.di. (see Schulz-Oberschelp 2010). Table 4 depicts the range of wages in continuing education for the various areas (see Mania/Strauch 2011). It covers a range of 15 Euros to 250 Euros per 45 minute lesson. Only 13.1 percent of all evaluated fees are more than 25 Euros per lesson. The highest fees are paid in privately paid vocational continuing education with an average of 45.07 Euros per lesson.

For several years, a lively debate has covered the employment situation, wages and social rights of employees in continuing education. In a black book, the Union for Education and Science (GEW 2010) addresses the “unbearable working conditions“ in continuing education. The discussion about the introduction of minimum wages in the field of continuing education reveals the criticism of teachers’ fees.

Task fields for continuing educators (2004)

According to an explorative study by Gruber/Hais/Kraft (2004), the task field of educators is very heterogeneous with a main focus on teaching. Table 5 shows the connection of the various task fields and the type of employment: the majority of self-employed workers are teachers, whereas full-time employees work in planning and concepts of educational programmes. Counselling and programme support are new task fields for educators in the light of “new learning cultures“ and self-directed learning. At present, the German National Guidance Forum in Education, Career and Employment (Nationale Forum für Beratung in Bildung, Beruf und Beschäftigung - nfb) pushes for the development of an individual job profile respectively the implementation of a frame programme for the professionalization of counselling (see nfb 2009). The current efforts to enhance a professionalzation of counsellors verify this development.

Formal qualifications of teachers (2004)

In accordance to the professionalization efforts in continuing education, the majority of teaching personnel have high formal qualifications (see table 6). According to the (calculated) study results conducted by Economic and Social Research (Wirtschaft und Sozialforschung) in 2005, 73 percent of all teachers have an academic degree (university or college), about 26 percent have a professional qualification (apprenticeship, technical college). About 1 percent of all teachers do not have a formal qualification.

Concerning the educational qualifications, the qualification level of teachers is quite high: 19 percent of all teachers graduated from a teaching course of study, an additional 19 percent graduated from another educational course of study, 21 percent finished an institutional training, 28 percent have other educational training, 34 percent have no educational qualification.

Topics of programmes for continuing educators (2007 – 2009)

The data base QUALIDAT covers programmes of further education for continuing educators as well as the topics, form and duration since 2007. Table 7 depicts the multitude of programmes offered in continuing education: In addition to professional and subject-related programmes (e.g. foreign languages, health education, German as a foreign language) most programmes are offered in the field of communication/conflict and learning/learning culture. In 2009, a significant increase was noticeable in German as a foreign language, learning/learning culture, foreign languages and health education. The topic overview of 2007 until 2009 indicates a steady proportion of programme numbers.